Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 10:12:46 -0700 From: "M.R.Murphy" <mrm@Mole.ORG> To: mrm@mole.Mole.ORG, rjk@sparcmill.grauel.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: The crontab controversy Message-ID: <199606271712.KAA20736@meerkat.mole.org>
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> > Before making such a decision, it might be a good thing to > > > > 1. man cron > > 2. man 1 crontab > > 3. man 5 crontab > > 4. cat /etc/crontab > > > I've read them all. > > > and understand the reasons that cron is now the way that it is. > > So what are they? I still see NO reason for using 2 different formats by > default, and the "/var/cron/tabs" method is more versatile than the > monolithic "/etc/crontab" method. I suspect that most of the problems folks have with cron are caused by "I know how it works from past experience. I don't need to read the man pages for the FreeBSD stuff to see if there are differences. vi works, what more do I need?" The behavior of cron is documented; people have problems because they fail to RTFM. Not just with cron, BTW. So, that said, here are some reasons: 1. /etc/crontab can provide a common environment, including a common MAILTO in an easy to administer manner, 2. /etc/crontab provides for an override of the allow/deny facility associated with /var/spool/cron/tabs/* in an easy to administer manner, 3. /etc/crontab provides for easy administration of multiple user cron activity for a system maintainer. 4. /var/spool/cron/tabs/* provides, when used with an effective allow/deny policy, a facility that allows users to maintain their own cron activities without requiring intervention by the system administrator, saving effort. 5. The dual crontab scheme provides flexibility. Some like it one way, some like it another. Those who don't like /etc/crontab can remove it. Those who don't like /var/spool/cron/tabs don't need to use it and can make /usr/bin/crontab not executable. Don't just delete /var/spool/cron/tabs though. That makes cron get noisy in the log. 6. Together with an effective group membership policy, the manipulation of both /etc/crontab and /var/spool/cron/tabs/* can provide a powerful tool for the scheduling of periodic tasks. (That last one is the kind that goes behind a bullet on a slide shown by some marketeer :-) I would grant that some of us might still see NO reason for using 2 different formats by default, but some of us do, and those who don't like /etc/crontab can, as I mentioned above, delete it if they so choose. Change for the sake of change is ill-advised. -- Mike Murphy mrm@Mole.ORG +1 619 598 5874 Better is the enemy of Good
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